Bulgaria has entered a “very dangerous narrative”, which does not meet the strategic interests of the EU and NATO, but “meets the interests of third countries that want instability in the region”, believes the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of the Republic of North Macedonia Timcho Mucunski, BTA reported.
At a press conference, where he reported on the achievements of the ministry in the first year of his mandate, Mucunski said that “there has never been any hate speech in official statements by senior representatives of the state – president, prime minister and minister of foreign affairs” regarding Bulgaria.
„If the request for the affirmation of our identity and language is perceived as hate speech, then the problem is bigger than we think”, said Mucunski.
"I asked President Costa to draw the attention of our colleagues in Skopje that hate speech does not help this process (of European integration), including in our dialogue, which should be based on the Good Neighborhood Agreement", said Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov yesterday after a meeting with European Council President Antonio Costa.
„What we are actively doing, as a country with the status of an EU candidate member, is to develop a real discourse within all European institutions to realize what has been done to this country (North Macedonia) for more than 30 years, but also what is being done now, in this time of real turbulence. Lately I have been talking about the very dangerous narrative that Sofia has entered into.... We want a path forward towards the EU, we want to discuss a compromise, but we want foresight and guarantees.... We have very clear red lines from which we will not back down and they are related to language, identity, including the need to affirm our cultural and historical past, academic freedom for any discussion on this issue and not to allow and ignore the factual situation, that is, the obvious violations that our neighbor Bulgaria commits with regard to the principles that arise from international public law, which they are obliged to apply, I mean the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights”, said Mucunski.
In his words, as an EU member state, Bulgaria cannot use the fact that it is a member of the EU, "as its own tool for redefining national identity” of the people of North Macedonia.
„Therefore, we call for rationality and awareness of the responsibility that we all bear together towards our region and our continent... In most European countries, there is clarity about what is happening to our country. I want to call on Sofia to behave rationally, not to get stuck in the retrograde narratives that, unfortunately, certain circles in this country have built regarding the Macedonian issue....What Sofia has been doing lately, this explicit attempt, which we oppose with all our might, to redefine our identity, is retrograde, it is not beneficial to the region and the peoples of the two countries, which unfortunately due to such relations are increasingly distant from each other”, said Mucunski.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia believes that the report on the country's progress voted on by the EP Foreign Affairs Committee is a “historical moment”, but it is not time for triumph, because it is still not clear what text of the report will be adopted when the report enters the EP, in early July.
“We are not an EU member state...But at the same time, it is a fact that we have communication with many from our friends, friends of the region, friends of Europe, because everyone who wants success on our path to full membership is ultimately a friend of Europe. This is a process that is important for us, but also for the EU itself, in order to close this vacuum that exists from the perspective of the Western Balkans. We, with our commitment, as a government... will do everything possible to send a call for reason and awareness within the European institutions. It is up to us to continue with our clear positions, so that no one, within the EU, has any dilemmas about our positions. Let's talk about what the harm would be if the EP were allowed to enter the process of creating a new Macedonian identity, a modern Macedonian identity, and how inappropriate this act itself is for the EU itself, that is, for everything that it stands for - to respect diversity, to respect the different characteristics of identity and cultural differences that exist within the EU“, said Mucunski.
In an interview with the program “360 degrees” last night, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia said that he does not expect the government to change its positions regarding the changes to the constitution after the local elections in the fall.